BORACAY – Environment secretary Roy Cimatu asked “extended patience, support and understanding” from stakeholders amid the ongoing rehabilitation of this world-famous island resort.
The half-year rehabilitation which aims to reverse the poor environmental condition of the island is about to end Friday next week.
The island closure has tested the patience of thousands of stakeholders (resident, workers and business owners) in the past months, said Cimatu, but “much work remains to be done for Boracay.”
On Monday, Boracay was opened to local tourists for an 11-day dry run of the island’s tourism operations.
Cimatu called it a “salubungan,” which recognized the “sacrifices” of Aklanons after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the island shut in April.
Duterte in a speech in February has also branded Boracay a “cesspool” in April.
On Monday, Cimatu said the famous holiday island is “no longer” such.
“We declare now that Boracay Island is no longer a cesspool, but an island whose body of water surrounding it has passed the standard for it be fit for swimming,” he stressed.
But reopening Boracay – which was once dubbed as the “tourism jewel of Philippines” – is “not the time to relax and lower our guards,” said Cimatu.
He said the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force will continue to monitor the rehabilitation works, water quality and solid waste management in the island. (With reports from Aklan Forum Journal and Philippine News Agency/PN)
